Dawn of the Dragonslayer

Live action movies with the word "dragon" in the title have a long history of being disappointing budget films. This is not one of the rare exceptions but for what it is, it's entertaining.

The scenery and sets are very well done. The dialogue is natural and the actors pull it off well. The costumes are pretty good too with a few minor issues. For example - when Kate is helping Will put on the livery it looks and sounds like she's using a snap rather than a button.

The plot is obvious and predictable but that is to be expected in a B-flick. Also expect the dragon to look unfinished. The shape and color of it look great but the texture is too cartoonish, the shadows are wrong, etc. and the actors' eye lines are a bit off in spots.

All in all it's definitely worth watching one time but I won't be putting it in my collection.

This is the first review I leave on IMDb, but I thought this movie deserved it. Not that it's better than any other I've seen, but because the current punctuation (around 3 stars) is undeserved. First of all, I believe this movie has been released pretty much straight away into DVD/Blueray. That tells you something - it is not a blockbuster, so don't expect it! I can only guess that people rating it very low were expecting to watch a big Hollywood production. Well, it's not, but it's so nice to know that movies can still be made without famous stars or big bucks. I started watching and thought "well, here's something to watch on a Sunday afternoon when there's nothing else". I was wrong. I have actually paid to go to the cinema and watch overrated movies that were much worse than this one. The acting is good, the main character - an almost unknown actor - delivers good quality acting. The storyline is good, and the special effects considering this is a low budget movie are great! The scenery is beautiful and I was expecting the dragon to be awful, but it was another little good surprise. Come on people, give it a chance, you'll enjoy it.

There are many ways for a film to fail, but most of the time it is all about bad story or bad acting or both. This film has decent actors and a rather acceptable story. However the direction and script are abysmal, making the viewing experience feel like mild torture. Poor Anne Black (the writer and director - ouch), she probably has the passion, but not the skill.

The story itself is more of a fairy tale, the sort of "man of the people rises against all odds and defeats evil". There is a girl involved, a competing pretender to her graces, a confused father, a wise woman and, more interesting, magic and a dragon. What does the film do with all this? A nauseating script, with bad dialogue, ridiculous action scenes and implausible situations that are only shadowed by the bad CGI.

It is unclear to me how one can screw up a fairy tale: we know the script from when we're young. The actors were not brilliant, but they were decent. The CGI was cheap, but there was a dragon in the film. So how does one make a complete mess of something like that?

I have never seen people be more hard on a film! For it being an indie film this hits all the points I was looking for. I really enjoyed it, and my wife unexpectedly did so as well. I'm not offering excuses for them, but you have to compare Apples to Apples. One reviewer mentioned the classic "Dragonslayer" from the 80's, which was a really good movie - but the budgets were night and day differences. Dragonslayer had an $18mil. budget and that was in 81'. I've seen a ton of movies that were hard to watch and this was def. not one of them. This hit on all the places they needed to. Writing, acting, and the VFX for good. If you are a fantasy fan, allow yourself to get drawn in and you'll enjoy the film. If you are expecting Dragonslayer, you may not get what you wanted. I gives this a two thumbs up and looking forward to what else they bring in the future.

For those interested in a fantasy epic akin to Lord of the Rings, with huge battles and action sequences, you may want to give this one a pass and stop reading here. If you don't mind a medieval romance film with a hint of fantasy and a dragon, then this might be for you.

The writing is good, and the sets and wardrobe are also well done. The filming locations in Ireland are breathtaking. The actors and actresses suit their roles, and the chemistry between the leads is fantastic. Their on-screen relationship blossoms naturally, without feeling forced.

Despite what some people on here may groan about with regard to the special effects, the dragon is actually quite good. It doesn't have that typical "SyFy Original" feel to it. But it doesn't have that Hollywood-budget finesse either.

You can tell this was a passion-film, with all persons involved working to make a quality film they could be proud to release with the budget and equipment they had to work with. The IMDb score does not reflect the true quality of Dawn of the Dragonslayer. My rating of 7/10 is based on this film alone, and not my feelings for it when compared to other films.